Chinese Intellectual History 4. Classical Confucianism: Seminar on Chinese Intellectual History 4. Classical Confucianism: Xun Zi, the Great Learning and the Mean Chun-chieh Huang National Chair Professor National Taiwan University Research Fellow, Academia Sinica Email: cc10.huang@msa.hinet.net http://huang.cc.ntu.edu.tw

I. Lecture Notes:

Introduction 1:1. Xun Zi (313?-238 BCE) as a bridge between Confucianism and Legalism 1:2. The Da Xue and the Zhong Yong as crystallization of early Han Confucianism  

2. Xun Zi’s Concept of Man: 2:1. The nature of man is evil; his goodness is the result of his activity a) Sage and Teacher: “The propriety and righteousness are created by the sages” b) Education: “accumulation” (積) Sage “activate their nature and formulate culture”

Human nature is evil; any good in humans is acquired by conscious exertion...This being the case, when each person follows his inborn nature and indulges his natural inclinations, aggressiveness and greed are certain to develop…Thus it is necessary that man’s nature undergo the transforming influence of a teacher and the model and that he be guided by ritual and moral principles… (Xun Zi, “Man’s Nature is Evil”)

人之性惡，其善者偽也。今人之性，生而有好利焉，順是，故爭奪生而辭讓亡焉；生而有疾惡焉，順是，故殘賊生而忠信亡焉；生而有耳目之欲，有好聲色焉，順是，故淫亂生而禮義文理亡焉。然則從人之性，順人之情，必出於爭奪，合於犯分亂理而歸於暴。故必將有師法之化、禮義之道，然後出於辭讓，合於文理而歸於治。用此觀之，然則人之性惡明矣，其善者偽也。（《荀子‧性惡》）

3. Xun Zi’s Concept of Nature (Heaven): 3:1. Objective order = 天 Xun Zi cuts off the ties between Heaven and Man

The course of Nature is constant: it does not survive because of the actions of a Yao; it does not perish because of the actions of a Jie... Although the seasons are received just the same as in an orderly age, the catastrophes and calamities will be of a different order [of magnitude] from those of an orderly age; yet you can have no cause to curse Nature, for these things are the consequences of the way that you have followed... (Xun Zi, “Discourse on Nature”)

天行有常，不為堯存，不為桀亡。應之以治則吉，應之以亂則凶。僵本而節用，則天不能貧；養備而動時，則天不能病；循道而不貳，則天不能禍。故水旱不能使之饑，寒暑不能使之疾，妖怪不能使之凶。本荒而用侈，則天不能使之富；養略而動罕，則天不能使之全；倍道而妄行，則天不能使之吉。故水旱未至而饑，寒暑未薄而疾，妖怪未至而凶。受時與治世同，而殃禍與治世異，不可以怨天，其道然也。故明於天人之分，則可謂至人矣。（《荀子‧天論》）

3:2. Xun Zi urges man to conquer the Heaven “Faustian spirit” ∴ detour from Confucian-Mencian “moral autonomy” or “moral subjectivity” Faust in his study Goethe

4. Xun Zi’s View of Social Order: 4:1. Confucius and Mencius: from within  Subjectivity Xun Zi: from without Objectivity

4:2. Xun Zi sees decorum (li, 禮) as an instrument 4:3. Value system is created by the former sage-kings

5. Confucianism in Qin and Early Han: 5:1. Changes of center of gravity in Confucianism: “psycho-centric philosophy”  “Cosmo-centric philosophy” 《大學》、《中庸》 Interaction between Heaven and Man

"It is characteristic of absolute sincerity to be able to foreknow "It is characteristic of absolute sincerity to be able to foreknow. When a nation or family is about to perish, there are sure to be unlucky omens. These omens are revealed in divination and in the movements of the four limbs. When calamity or blessing is about to come, it can surely know beforehand if it is good, and it can also surely know beforehand if it is evil. Therefore he who has absolute sincerity is like a spirit." (The Doctrine of the Mean, chapter 24)

至誠之道，可以前知。國家將興，必有禎祥；國家將亡，必有妖孽；見乎蓍龜，動乎四體。禍福將至；善，必先知之；不善，必先知之。故至誠如神。（《中庸‧24章》） Heaven = origin of value consciousness The rise of the Book of Change

5:2. The interpolation of Legalism into Confucianism: 5:3. Daoism: a concern over “physical self” replaces the concern over “Aesthetic self” ∴  the rise of Daoism as religion  the emergence of Huang-Lao as political ideology. *Age of Amalgamation

Yellow Emperor Lao Zi

6. Major Philosophical Inclinations in the Great Leaning (大學) 6:1. “Moral reductionism” “Three items and eight steps” 6:2. Priority of steps for implementing morality “To know what is first and what is last will lead one close to the Way.” 6:3. the concept of “abide” (zhi, 止):

7. Important Philosophical Concepts in Zhong Yong (中庸) 7:1. The concept of Dao "What Heaven (tian, Nature) imparts to man is called human nature. To follow our nature is called the Way (Dao). Cultivating the Way is called education. The Way cannot be separated from us for a moment. What can be separated from us is not the Way… (The Mean, Ch. 1)

天命之謂性；率性之謂道；修道之謂教。道也者，不可須臾離也；可離，非道也。是故君子戒慎乎其所不睹，恐懼乎其所不聞。莫見乎隱，莫顯乎微。故君子慎其獨也。喜怒哀樂之未發，謂之中。發而皆中節，謂之和。中也者，天下之大本也。和也者，天下之達道也。致中和，天地位焉，萬物育焉。（《中庸‧第1章》）

7:2. The Concept of “Sincerity”: “Only those who are absolutely sincere can fully develop their nature.” 7:3. Man as center of universe: “Unless there is perfect virtue, the perfect way cannot be materialized.”

8. Conclusion: Heaven—Man

II. Assignments:

．Chan, Chapter 4, 5, 6, pp. 84-135 ．陳榮捷，上冊，四、五、六章，頁165-222 ．勞思光，第一冊，第六章，頁315-335; 第二冊，第一章（陸），頁41-81

Discussion Questions: III. Discussion Questions:

*1. Compare the similarity and dissimilarity between Mencius and Xun Zi on government. *2. Discuss Xun Zi’s concept of man. 3. Discuss the relationship between Heaven and Man in Mencius’ and Xun Zi’s thought. 4. Discuss the Confucian educational, moral, and political programme in the Great Learning. 5. Discuss the relationship between Man and Nature in the Doctrine of the Mean.

IV. 討論問題

孔、孟、荀之身體觀各有何特色？ 討論先秦儒家「慎獨」概念之涵義及其思想史意義。 討論先秦儒家之「自我」概念之涵義及其思想史意義。

V. 延伸閱讀

楊儒賓：《儒家身體觀》（臺北：中央研究院中國文哲研究所，1996）。 黃俊傑：《孟學思想史論》（卷一）（臺北：東大圖書公司1991），第3章。 黃俊傑：〈先秦儒家身體觀中的兩個功能性概念〉，《文史哲》（濟南：山東大學），2009年第4期（總第313期），2009年7月15日，頁40-48。

Chun-chieh Huang, “The ‘Body Politic’ in Ancient China,” ACTA Orientalia Vilnensia (Lithuania: Vilnius University Publishing House), Vol. 8, Issue 2, (2007, actually published in 2009), pp. 33-43, 收入Humanism in East Asian Confucian Contexts, Appendix 1. 石田秀實：《こころとからだ──中国古代における身体の思想》（福岡：中國書店，1995）。 Antonio S. Cua, “Hsun Tzu’s Theory of Argumentation: A Reconstruction,” Review of Metaphysics 36 (1983), pp. 867-894.

Antonio S. Cua, Ethical argumentation: A Study in Hsun Tzu’s Moral Epistemology (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985). See also the comments in Daniel Dahlstrom, “Tao and Ethical Argumentation,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, 4 (1987), pp. 475-485, and Cua’s reply in “Some Aspects of Ethical Argumentation: A Reply to Daniel Dahlstrom and John Marshall,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, 4 (1987), pp. 501-516. Kuang-ming Wu, On Chinese Body Thinking: A Cultural Hermeneutic (Leiden: Brill, 1997). Wei-ming Tu, “The Creative Tension between Jen and Li,” Philosophy East and West 18, 2 (1968), pp. 30-31.

Kwong-loi Shun, “Jen and Li in the Analects,” Philosophy East and West 43, 3 (1993), pp. 457-479. Wei-ming Tu, “The ‘Thought of Huang-Lao’: A Reflection on the Lao Tzu and Huang Ti Texts in the Silk Manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui,” Journal of Asian Studies 39 (1979-1980), pp. 95-110. Wei-ming Tu, Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation (Albany: SUNY Press, 1985).

Keyword: “3 items and 8 steps” “The nature of man is evil” the concept of “sincerity” in 中庸